History, technology, and probably some other stuff

Tip of the Week – Campaign ads

by glennw on September 7, 2012

I normally don’t have much control over what shows up on the family TV – there’s typically so much Netflix streaming, Pysch watching, Apple TV playing going on that I rarely have much to say on what appears. But there are two times in my house when I get full dibs on the big screen.

March Madness and presidential elections.

Non-negotiable.

So the last two weeks have been great. Speeches. Cheering. Ballon drops. Signs. Campaign slogans. Pundits. Loud pundits. Stupid pundits. Loud and stupid pundits. You know. Typical national convention stuff.

And . . . campaign ads. Lots of campaign ads. So this week, I started poking around for useful campaign ad teaching sites. The good news – lots of great sites. The bad news – lots of great sites. So to help out a bit, I’ve cobbled together some of the best websites focusing on the art of the campaign ad.

The Ultimate Presidents Sale
Students will research and examine candidates’ background, policies and messages. The saturation of television political advertising that permeates students’ channel surfing lends itself to scrutiny, and this lesson can help them sort through the medium to see the method and message.

Five Myths About Campaign Ads
Do ads work? Are they as nefarious as their reputation suggests? Two decades of research has exposed several myths about campaign advertising.

Political Ad Tracker
Political Ad Tracker takes a closer look at ads from candidates, parties and outside groups and allows you to rate whether an ad is believable and how it impacts your views on the candidates and issues in the 2012 campaign.

FactCheck
A nonpartisan, nonprofit “consumer advocate” for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics. We monitor the factual accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political players in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews and news releases.

Politifact
Every day, reporters and researchers from PolitiFact and its partner news organization examine statements by anyone associated with American politics. We research their statements and then rate the accuracy on our Truth-O-Meter – True, Mostly True, Half True, Mostly False and False. The most ridiculous falsehoods get our lowest rating, Pants on Fire.

Excellent resources. Sadly, are you able to see a lot of campaign ads in Kansas? I live in Kansas City, and we receive a lot of Missouri ads, such as McCaskill/Akin, but not much from the national level. WIth such targeted campaigning, Kansas doesn’t get much attention. Even our state politics don’t equate to much. Youtube keys me in to the important ones, but it is a different sense. Thank you for the great resources, though.

Thanks for dropping by! As a curriculum specialist and consultant for ESSDACK, an educational service center in Hutchinson, Kansas, I get the opportunity to chat all day long about social studies and technology. Feel free to poke around!

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